In his opening remarks, ERC President Dr. Jan Rek (SUI) urged participants to use the information shared to develop and train referees at a national level.

Montreux, Switzerland, June 7, 2013 – A CEV referee seminar for volleyball referees was conducted in the Swiss city of Montreux from May 31 to June 2. The seminar looked at ways in which national federations can sustain and continue to improve the quality of refereeing throughout Europe, with the aim of promoting closer cooperation among all the national federations. The seminar offered those responsible for elite referee training the chance to meet and share best practices.

There were 58 delegates representing 39 of the CEV member federations as the European Referee Commission (ERC) held its bi-annual International Referee Seminar. Also present were Mr Sandy Steel, president of FIVB’s Rules of the Game commission, Mr Laszlo Herpai (HUN) a member of the same commission and Mr Sergey Titov (RUS) Secretary of the FIVB Referee Commission.

Other presentations were made by Mr Vito Santé Achille (ITA) on the subject of “Video Check”, Mr Steve Evans (ENG) on a new referee assignment tool introduced in England entitled “Who’s the Ref”, “Customer Satisfaction – Referees in Holland”. The ERC vision “E-Learning Project” was also presented by Mr Philippe Schürmann (LIE).

ERC Member Ms Zorica Bjelic (SRB) outlined her plans for the ERC Mentoring Program and how new talent and female referee development will be managed moving forward.Ms Bjelic summarised the previous Women’s Refereeing Seminars and reminded all present that plans must be made, documented and followed. The ERC expects all National Federations to have submitted their Female Referee Development plans for 2013/2014 by July 31, 2013.

Dr Rek confirmed that the ERC are looking to develop a far more even balance of male and female referees and to continue the goal of the FIVB to reduce the average age of International Referees.“In doing this the promotion of new young talent is key to our future success,” he said.

Having outlined plans for the observation of two matches at the Montreux Volley Masters, Mr Fred Kröger (GER) led the practical session and emphasised how the new R-4 technology takes into account the actual game play of the match and how referees can use it to perform better, technically.